If ignorance has a sexy sibling, it’s mystery. It’s one thing to not know why something is or what something is, but not knowing why something is is a hell of a lot more fun when that something is baffling or confusing or amusing or engaging in some way. Make it just a touch sinister, and you’ve transformed ignorance into mystery. I think the fact that first-generation non-sunroof Toyota Sequoias have a little mystery of this sort associated with them. It’s the Mystery of Why The Hell Does This Thing Have Five Separate Sunglass Holders In The Overhead Console.
Many, likely most, cars made in the past 20 years or so have some sort of flip-down sunglass holder, most commonly in a headliner-mounted console above the rear-view mirror. We all know these: you push on them, and a little door swings down, revealing a little protected slot to stick your sunglasses. Most cars have one of these.
The 2002-2004 Toyota Sequoia, though, if optioned with no sunroof (which is not very common; really, only the base trim Sequoias had no sunroof; a Toyota rep told me that as soon as you add any option packages to the Sequoia, a sunroof almost always shows up, too) will have, spreading down the center of its headliner, like some sort of spine, a large overhead console that contains an improbable and seemingly absurd five sunglass holders.
Five! Maybe the thinking was that everyone who could occupy a seat in the car should, by divine right, have a safe and convenient place to store their sunglasses (or other eyewear; there’s nothing that says you couldn’t slide a nice pair of Warby Parker readers in there) because, somehow, that was considered a priority? It’s not clear, at all.
And, of course, I’m by no means the first person to point this out. There have been posts on various places on the internet from Sequoia owners quite baffled by this quintet of sunglass cubbies for years:
It looks like madness, doesn’t it? And now, thanks to Tik Tok, there’s been a bit of a resurgence of interest in the Mystery of All The Damn Sequoia Sunglass Holders as people are sharing them, via the magic of digital moving pictures, with the world.
Here, look:
@b14k3bix Noone ever talks about the feautures #toyota #newcar #sequoia #toyotasequoia #trending #dougdemuro
… and here’s another one:
@doctorbcruse My Sequoia has so many sunglasses holders. #fyp #sequoia #tree #sunsout #sunglasses #noclue #duet
Okay, one more:
@sn0zberries
I’m sure there’s more out there, but you get the idea. The thing has a crapload of sunglass holders, and it’s weirding everybody out. I’m pretty confused, too; I get that maybe Toyota just needed to fill a lot of space on that sunroofless headliner, and after they stuck in some map lights and provisions for garage door opening buttons and so on, they maybe just ran out of ideas and copy-pasted that lone sunglass holder five times? They did make the last two bigger, maybe for oversized Elton John-style novelty glasses, I suppose
I reached out to Toyota, hoping to get some answers, but, to be honest, the response I got only led to more questions. The first response I got was an outright denial that Toyota even made these consoles! I was told that after talking to both Toyota R&D and their Calty Design Center, they had determined that this was an aftermarket accessory and not original Toyota equipment.
Wait a minute. Something doesn’t smell right here. Looking at a lot of eBay ads, I found the shot I was looking for – a nice, clear Toyota sticker, complete with part and patent numbers:
That part number linked to a number of places selling this genuine, OEM Toyota part, and most of those patent numbers have to do with electrical equipment that may be incorporated into the console, like a vehicle compass. The point is, this is not an aftermarket part! It’s OEM! I reached back out to Toyota and showed them my findings, perhaps a bit indignantly.
Immediately, the story changed. Now Toyota was admitting that, yes, this was their part, and while it was not common, it did exist on those base model packages. I was told that the power moonroof was a $1,005 standalone option, so lots of people jumped at that chance.
As far as why, I was simply told
“So far as engineers and designers are concerned, we don’t have any information we can provide internally from folks who worked on the vehicle. Which bums me out. Sorry about that, Jason.”
Well, crap. And I do appreciate Toyota’s PR team, who are always helpful and knowledgeable. Except this time, and as a result of this dichotomy, I suspect something, I don’t know, sinister.
Why would they pretend that this was an aftermarket part? Why is Toyota so hush-hush about the thinking behind the legendary pentapockets for sunglasses? What are they hiding? What’s the angle here? Something is clearly up.
There’s no reason for Toyota to try to distance themselves from this remarkable feature, especially with all the new attention it’s getting; this is the sort of mind-share attention that you can’t buy, and a savvy marketing team would be all over this, perhaps offering an all-new six sunglass holder for the new Toyota Sequoia.
So, after all this, things have just gotten weirder. We still don’t understand the motivation for such a shocking amount of sunglass holders in a single vehicle, and we now have the added mystery of Toyota’s strange reaction.
This isn’t over.
The last time I stored sunglasses in the sunglasses holder in my car they were the only thing stolen when my car was broken into. They apparently didn’t want my CD binder filled with the nu-metal hits of the late 90s and early 00s.
Nu metal rocks! If it was me breaking into your car, I’d have definitely taken them, if that makes you feel any better.
The base model with no moonroof was meant to be sold to government agencies. The assumption was that five government agents could fit in the vehicle and they all would need a receptacle for their government issued sunglasses.
This is actually plausible.
“Agent Denton, please get in the Sequoia.”
Can’t explain? No, they don’t want you to find out the truth. A deep dark secret Toyota would rather stay hidden to avoid the embarrassment of Sunglassgate.
My wife has a ton of sun glasses. She could easily fill that thing up and best of all there’s a good chance in one of these cubbies she’ll find a pair at any given time.
Now I’m off to figure out how to retrofit this divine device into the family van…
Interesting that the Toyota rep said that most had sunroofs. During my brief respite selling Toyotas I sold many first gen Sequoias and I remember many having the ridiculous bank of sunglass holders.
Like with EV’s, are we sure there wasn’t a government incentive based on country of origin and number of sunglasses holders?
“…a savvy marketing team would be all over this, perhaps offering an all-new six sunglass holder for the new Toyota Sequoia.”
Cross-brand it with Gillette and make it a holder for a sixth pair of sunglasses that match your nicely trimmed sideburns.
Fuck everything, we’re doing 6 sunglasses holders
This blog is exhibit A for why a non-“car person” like me is a subscriber. Never change, Torch.
Sunglasses Gate?
You’re onto something here.
Toyota pursues big-gov contracts with large federal agencies.
Big gov agencies mandate sufficient room for their Men in Black to store their sunglasses.
Inadvertently, the government model with all the sunglass capacity leaks onto the open market.
Government saves thousands by having fleet vehicles that can last forever.
Thus the coverup. .Gov doesn’t want to be known for efficiency, so they delete Toyota’s records of this having been an OEM part, thus explaining Toyota’s denialism at first and the mysterious amnesia among their dev staff later.
It all makes sense, I tell you.
Oh yes it does, it does make sense now
You’re right! We’ve got to tell Steve Brannon about this so that he can warn the nation.
What’s the problem?
Oh my…
Finally, a perfect storage setup for my extensive collection of driving monocles.
No more rummaging around the cabin looking for the one that just popped out due to the rude gestures or offensive actions of fellow motorists in traffic.
Your insurance covers monocles? Mine only will if I can demonstrate that one eye is 20/70 or worse and the other is 20/60 or better, and I’m at 20/20 and 20/50, so they won’t. I have argued this.
I feel ya…
I’ve been arguing with my auto insurance company for years about replacing my cars glass with a corrective lens windshield to no avail.
They only laughed at me harder when I suggested I needed bifocal windows all around.
Driver and front passenger/navigator daytime sunglasses (2).
Driver and front passenger/navigator weird yellow lenses nighttime anti-glare glasses (2)
One (1) pair night vision goggles for covert government assassination missions. After all, you can’t expect the Ministry of Defense to spring for the higher trim levels, right?
Solved.
Or, one complicated “pair” of sunglasses for a horseshoe crab?
I find the number of sunglass cubbies polarizing, myself.
Stop throwing shade.
The big one is for sex stuff.
It’s shocking Jason didn’t think of that
Sex stuff is too mundane for Jason. He’s on another level entirely.
Cutting edge for sure
We don’t know that. He just didn’t write about it.
Missus would need a compartment that’s 2′ long then.
JT, you (I assume based on well…you being you) of all people should know that the only reasonable explanation is pot, man. Pot.
Huh. I own a 2004 Sequoia and wasn’t aware of this, but admittedly mine is a Limited with a sunroof (which I’m too afraid to open because it has broken on other older vehicles I own).
Dang, and here I am with my 2017 Bolt EV “car of the future” with absolutely 0 sunglasses holders like a sucker. Had to go the Walmart visor clip on route like it’s 1987 all over again, may as well throw my cassettes in the center console and mount my realistic equalizer under the infotainment.
You got me beat. My shades are dangling from a binder clip clamped to the passenger side visor.
Show off. Us poors couldn’t afford Realistic much less get a Radio Shack voucher card for free batteries. I had to settle for the cheap-ass Kraco equipment from the local Western Auto store. At least I did have an open charge account there.
Us poorer poors couldn’t get an open charge account for the Kraco equipment. We had to put it on layaway.
I mean, nobody said you have to store sunglasses in there…
Seeing this phase as part of an official response fills me with joy. It could very easily have included the words “synergy”, “disruptive”, or “dynamism” or some other bullshit corporate-speak.
I feel like that PR person has been waiting years for some enterprising young upstart car site to ask this very question so that they could finally get the truth out. But then legal came down on them, hard, to not spill the beans, but they still had to include some note that tells us they’re on our side.
Their family just reported them missing.
More likely the PR person genuinely didn’t know this was a thing. That fits with the original response – they weren’t trying to deny anything, it was just a “We definitely wouldn’t have made something like that, right? Sounds aftermarket.”
“Marge, it has to sound cutting-edge. Like Cutco…or Edge-com…or Inter-slice.”
“How about Compuglobalhypermeganet?”
You don’t remember this because you’re too young…
When Japanese cars were becoming popular in the late 70’s and early 80’s, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Datsun and Mitsubishi would include little features which cost next to no money at all, but were deemed useful and thoughtful touches which set them apart from their American cost-cutter competition. These included coin holders, dashboard shelves, LED digital clocks, trip odometers, cassette tape holders, bag hooks, under-seat drawers, etc.
This is one of those things.
Another one of those things was having their cars assembled by people who were willing to at least pretend to give a damn
American industrial base turned their country into wasteland.
This is payback.
They just needed to fill in the space between the two sets of roof lights so they could piggy back the wiring from front to back without some kind conduit or blank panel showing. With little else being stored up there, they chose this.
Did they choose the most insane looking thing possible? Yes indeed!
Yup this was probably a net savings or at worst a wash vs two separate lights, a way to get the wiring to the second one and additional assembly line steps.
You just run it under (technically over) the headliner.
Yes, but only if you want extra steps in assembly. I am not a bean-counter, but this must have been the less expensive solution else they wouldn’t have done it that way.
So, you’re saying there’s something ‘shady’ about the multiple sunglass holders..
We’ve been left in the dark.
Some would consider that a polarizing comment.
“If ignorance has a sexy sibling, it’s mystery.”
I am here for exactly this kind of prose
It seems like overkill, but that space isn’t doing much else, so why not? Also, two cars ago my sunglasses holder was too small to actually fit my sunglasses, so I appreciate that they give a variety of sizes. However, it’s not like that big one is very accessible for the driver…
The big ones are for your big novelty New Years Eve glasses
Same thing I was thinking. Of my 4 cars, only 1 has a sunglass holder that fits my sunglasses.
It’s to hold all of yours and the rest of your Blues Brothers tribute band’s sunglasses.